Guidelines

Contents

Relax, and have fun. It's RP, you are a different character! If you're getting worked up for nothing, calm down.

RPs must be rated G. PG is okay, but it's a kids show, so the rating must be low.

Heavy violence is not acceptable. Magic spells, throwing pies, apples, cupcakes, muffins, etc., hind-leg kicks, or cartoon violence like dropped objects or pegasus pony crashes are fine. Things like swords exist, but don't overdo it. No horrendous injuries or on-camera death. At worst, a character will faint or be knocked out for a short period of time. Remember, we're ponies!

Do not make super-grimdark situations: This is similar to above. Remember that we are based off of a children’s show. Ponies are not psychotic killers, there should not be player backgrounds with abuse or apocalyptic wars, etc.

Keep romance romantic: Snuggling, hugs, the odd kiss, spending the night talking, and so on, is okay. Heavy makeout sessions or blatant sex IS NOT, and implying such things is frowned upon. This isn’t Days of our Equestria; you should not be having a torrid love affair either. If you’re going to ship, do it naturally, and do not force it. Romance with the mane six and other show characters is restricted and will be limited.

Alcohol and drug abuse is prohibited: PERIOD. Remember, kids show, lighthearted. The pony equivalent of alcohol is the salt lick.

No firearms: There are no guns on Equestria. Except for Pinkie Pie's party cannon...

Do not swear: Words like ‘fudge’, ‘fiddlesticks’ and ‘hayseeds’ are fine. If you must swear, replace swear words with Equestrian equivalents, such as ‘manure’, ‘horseapples’, and ‘hay’. Be creative!

Don’t Teleport Around: Unless you’re Celestia, Luna, Twilight Sparkle or Dr. Whooves, you should not be able to randomly teleport long distances around Equestria. If you pose being in Canterlot, do not appear in Ponyville in your next pose. Pose traveling, and have some travel time. However, there's no problem compressing time with a narrative "cheat," such as, "*four hours later* Wow, that was a comfortable ride on the train from Ponyville to Canterlot, I'm so glad they installed that massage car!"

Don’t crowd: We all want to play with our favorite characters, but please don’t crowd them. Sometimes it’s hard enough to filter stuff through the twitter feed as it is, but a dozen @mentions being thrown at the main cast at once is just confusing, and leaves people both lost and feeling ignored when themain cast can’t keep up. This is also called "swarming"--when characters suddenly appear in a place where a mane 6 or a show character or some action is happening, just to be included. Avoid swarming.

Follow and interact with who you like: But remember that usually only the cast with the prefix ADP_ exist physically in this world. Unless otherwise stated, the mane six of this universe are adp_Twilight, adp_Pinkie, adp_Rarity, adp_Dashie, adp_Applejack and adp_Fluttershy. This also goes with adp_Spike, adp_Celestia and adp_Luna. It's okay to interact with others, but usually it is through some Tweetbird magic that allows messages from other universes. This just makes things easier. For comments not part of the narrative, try the "(( ))" convention. Placing your post between double parenthesis means it's OOC (out of character) or not intended to be part of the fiction.

Do not outstrip the main cast at their talent: This means that your OC should not be able to fly faster than Rainbow Dash, be better with magic than Twilight Sparkle, or be better with animals than Fluttershy, etc. You get the idea. If you want to be fast or good with magic, fine, or be super awesome at something they aren’t good at, great, but don’t outshine the main cast on what they are best at.

No OC Alicorns: The only alicorns that will be acknowledged are those introduced by the show or have been confirmed to exist.

There are only three types of pony: Unicorn, Pegasus and Earth Pony. For the sake of simplicity, Zebras count as earth ponies. No other types exist at this point.

Other Races: There are no humans on Equestria. Other races should primarily be ones shown in the series, such as griffons, dragons, diamond dogs, etc. This is flexible. The general rule is, don't be a non-pony in order to have power: if you want to play a dragon, make them adolescent or younger, else they'll be unbalanced.

We’re playing Cartoon Ponies: Really, just keep it simple. You shouldn’t have someone who has gone through wars, nor have a great deal of drama in general. You shouldn't be playing a dimension crosser, weird alien or robot. Ponies, people. Magical, pastel, talking, ponies.

Antagonists are fine: But keep them cartoon based and in line with the show. Antagonists should be more along the lines of cartoon villains at worst, bullies at best.

Use common sense: For example, if you’re going to make a ripoff, at least try to convert it to fit the guidelines.

Pinkie Pie: Pinkie is kind of a special exception to the rules. As we've seen on the show, the normal laws of physics don't necessarily apply to Pinkie. Yes, most of the time she 'plays by the rules' but she does, on occasion, break one, or all of them. If you see Pinkie 'teleporting' from Ponyville to Canterlot to boop Princess Celestia's nose, don't take that as open season to do the same. Other players and audience expect that sort of behaviour from Pinkie. You might be able to get away with it once or twice, but do it to often and you'll start losing followers. Of course, these are just guidelines, not rules, so bend and break at your own risk.

Pony Magic: There are only five types of pony magic. Ponies probably will not have any other sort of magic besides these:

Unicorn magic: While all ponies have magic, only unicorns have a varied form of it and may actually focus it. Unicorns possess telekinesis of varying strength. Most cannot lift more than they can generally lift physically, give or take a few pounds. They also possess some magic pertaining to their special talent. For example: Trixie's special talent is illusions and parlor tricks. She possesses magic that allows her to create non-solid illusions, create roses and rope, manipulate a light-based trick, and create a very brief, small thundercloud, etc. Most unicorn powers should not be this varied, but it should give a good example of what 'some magic' can pertain to.

Pegasus magic: Pegasi magic is much more specialized, and focuses primarily around clouds and the general weather. It permits them to walk on and manipulate clouds. Ponies more skilled with pegasus magic are able to manipulate the weather to a greater degree, altering the winds, creating rain and storm clouds, and other general weather abilities. Flexible to a degree.

Earth pony magic: The magic of earth ponies is much more subtle, and revolves around aspects of the ground. It can make earth ponies sturdier and harder to knock around. Their magic can make things they plant grow faster and hardier. They are greater in tune with the world than other ponies, and can traverse the land with less difficulty.

Alicorn Magic: Like Unicorn magic, but revolves around control of the base elements, including sunrise and moonrise. Only Celestia and Luna possess these on a regular basis.

Elements of Harmony: Ancient forms of magic, held by the ‘mane six’. Unknown properties, but rarely used. In extremely rare, plot based cases, use of the EoH may result in effects such as a member of the 'mane six' temporarily turning into a Alicorn - for example.

Magic Items: Magic items do exist, but they are rarely powerful to any degree. Most magic items should be limited in power, such as a magic lighter, or other such things (For example, Rainbow Dash has a shard of the original Storm Crystal, but it can only change the color hue of the area around her). If it is destructive, it should not exist. If it provides you with significant powers in any way, it should not exist.

Other: Alchemy (Think potions and brews) is okay. Dragons can breathe fire and dragon-mail. But in general, there should not be any other types of magic.

Technology: Technology in Equestria is relatively equivalent to that of old western times with a steampunk/magipunk twist. Ponies are more capable in medicine and more efficient in many things than in the old west, and are, generally, much, much healthier. There are some modern conveniences such as fridges, ovens, air conditioning, but they run off of magic or mundane power sources, not electricity. Computers barely exist in the form of large computers that take up an entire room and run off of punch cards. Every once in a while, the show introduces new technology: for example, as of April 2012, movies/film are part of this world. For now, we're still following the trend set by the Flim Flam brothers, that all machinery is powered by magic or "stored lightning" in Twilight's leyden jars or occasional muscle-powered contraptions.

Power: Things in Equestria are not typically powered by electricity. They are usually powered by magical means. In some cases, they can be powered by lightning batteries or by more mundane methods, such as windmills and so forth.

Entertainment: There is no TV in Equestria. Radio with radio stations do exist. Movies exist, but think 1950's style movies; black and white and grainy. Home projectors are still in development and aren't very good. No personal computers, and video games are generally the old arcade style video booths. You get the picture. Ads still exist and come through radio, print, or twitter messages. Plays are a big thing, why not put on a show?

Everfree: Everfree forest is DANGEROUS. The weather shifts randomly on its own and monsters are numerous. You probably should not go in alone.

Twitter: Ponies on this Equestria use Twitter by way of little blue birds called ‘Tweet Birds’. These bizarre birds are highly trained and have a unique magic all their own that allow them to pass messages between other ponies who have a tweet bird, allow them access to Twitter functions, and are intelligent enough to write down their owners words and actions. Their magic allows them sometimes to traverse between universes, allowing communication between other worlds. How they work, nopony really knows, but it’s a craze that’s here to stay.